Let me know if something like this already exists or has been attempted. But its an idea I've had in my head for a while. A specialty club for the collectors of coins designed by Adolph Weinman (Mercury Dimes and Walking Liberty Halves) It something that I thought of a long time ago. But it has been back on my mind recently because Q. David Bowers has been writing about specialty organizations every week in CoinWorld recently. There are clubs like EAC (Early American Coppers) and those Bust Half Nut guys too. He has also mentioned a short-lived club of Standing Liberty Quarter Collectors, and a club that collects patterns. Anyway, this series of articles has had this idea of mine back in my head about a society of collectors of coins designed by Weinman. I don't think I have the skills/resources to start something like this. And actually, I'm not even sure that this is an original idea. ...So, I'm just kind of fishing for comments here. And wondering if this is something that anyone else would have any interest in. Thanks.
I think that to get something like this off the ground, it would take one special person with such indepth knowledge of the subject and such a passion for sharing it with others that other folks would become interested.
The early American stuff (EAC, BHNC) is widely collected and studied by die variety. There is also a John Reich collectors society, so I guess a Weinman society isn't that unreasonable. I'm guessing there are a lot more collectors of Walkers and Mercs than there are of SLQ's, which seem to be somewhat unpopular. I'm just not sure there are enough, or that they are active enough, to support a club or society. Of course, there does seem to be a club for just about everything nowadays, so why not?
Yes. There aren't alot of variteites and whatnot among these coins. But there certainly seems to be a ton of interest in Mercs and Walkers.
One of the reasons to have a club is to get people together. Why ? For fun, socializing, and to throw around ideas. In coin collecting, add to that a bourse. I think the internet helps with all four, so that facilitates club-making a little bit. Part of the issue is can you get an annual round-up ? Can you get membership to physically convene in one place ? Without that, I don't think it will last. As mentioned earlier, find one person with a lot of knowledge and passion. Have that person champion the idea and start the ball rolling. Try hitting as many internet boards as you can and try to get folks to join in. For a national get-together, I suggest choosing one of the existing major shows and have everybody meet there. Maybe January FUN. Maybe ANA.
That factor is working against you. And it's a big one. A big part of the draw of EAC, JRCS, and BHNC is the intellectual / knowledge side of things. It isn't straightforward, and there are still many mysteries. The fascination of early Mint practices, coupled with spotty records, adds to the intrigue with the early US stuff. There is still research to be done. It's a scholarly thing. Mercs and Walkers ? Not so much.
Adam, if you go through with this idea, i'd be willing to help out. Mercs are my personal favorite coin, with walkers only getting beat by morgans.
Walkers are my favorite, but Mercs are nice too. As for getting this idea started, well, we'll see. For right now it will probably just stay an idea.
Exactly. One of the other factors that Q. David Bowers says in his articles is an important one is having a good news letter. But with this subject, how many months or years could you possibly go without running out of things to write about?
Probably one reason for the small number of varieties is because these series haven't been studied that closely. Coins in unc or better are somewhat pricey and the designs are such that wear on coins in vf or lower condition make variety attribution difficult. IMHO
Well, the one thing I have to disagree with is the part about unc coins being somewhat pricey, although somewhat pricey is a relative term. I don't have much money. But I can even afford to pick up nice Walkers and Mercs. You can find pretty nice Walkers for less than 40 or 50 bucks and nice Mercs for under 20. That is one of the things I think is a plus for this idea.
Important point. With EAC and JRCS, the journal / newsletter is an important piece of numismatic literature. There's a lot of stuff in there which has not made its way into any book. Thus, most folks save old issues for reference. It also shows the strength of having a club in the first place. Members contribute to certain projects. Let's say they want to study die state progression of an 1834 JR-1 dime. Since there are a lot of folks to "answer the call", it's easy to assemble a stash of lots of coins. Very difficult to do without an affiliation. But with Mercs / Walkers... seems like there is less to know.
